


Fight or Hide

by Chimney_on_the_roof



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Enemies to Friends, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, to lovers? idk yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 11,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28134339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimney_on_the_roof/pseuds/Chimney_on_the_roof
Summary: Roman and Virgil, each other's enemies, have a mutual friend who refuses to pick sides. They're forced to work together and they discover a lot about each other. Who is the real hero and who's the villain?Meanwhile, the Local Dumbasses kidnap the wrong person and the Braincell finds a way to deal with it.*The chapter lenght will vary from about 150 to 300+ words.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 49
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I currently have 23 chapters written out and it's not even close to ending (keep in mind that the chapters are short).  
> Many thanks to [Nightingale231](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightingale231/pseuds/Nightingale231) for the prompt!

Roman looked up from his book in annoyance as another _ping!_ sounded across the room.

“Sorry, sorry!” his roommate said, immediately grabbing his phone. Looking down at the phone and tapping furiously, a smile broke through on Patton’s face and Roman couldn’t stay annoyed for much longer.

“Who’s texting you so anxiously, anyway?” Roman asked curiously.

Patton looked up with that same smile still on his face. “Guess.”

Roman sighed. If Patton made Roman guess, it could only be one person. Patton grinned and continued typing.

Roman threw his arms up in a questioning gesture. “How do you put up with him? He has some very questionable standards.”

Patton looked up again, frowning this time. “Like what? Wouldn’t you call defending your friends _nice_?”

Roman rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not what I mean, Pat. Of course I value friendships and such, you of all people should know that, as my best friend.”

Patton locked his phone and crossed his arms. _Dad mode activated_ , Roman thought. “I _don’t_ know what you mean, Roman,” Patton said indignantly. “What about Virgil makes you think he’s evil? He saves people, he-”


	2. Chapter 2

Logan tapped a random rhythm on the small table with his fingers. He was waiting for something to happen, _anything_. Instead, his brother and cousin stared at the screen of the laptop in front of them in complete silence. They were opposite Logan, so he couldn’t see what exactly they were looking at, but they kept him updated. Or they were supposed to, because apparently nothing was happening so there was nothing to update him about.

“Stop that,” his brother hissed, his eyes not turning away from the screen. Logan’s hand froze and he slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms.

“I simply do not see why it’s necessary for me to be present. There are projects you’ve been procrastinating on which I could be finishing for you at this exact moment, but-” He was cut off by his cousin’s shriek. Logan immediately jumped up from his chair and hurried to their side so he could watch the screen too.

“We got his location!” Remus shrieked again, a little bit unnecessary in Logan’s opinion. He could see for himself that they had the villain’s location, since a huge red dot was blinking somewhere on the map with the word _VILLAIN_ above it. He leaned closer to the screen.

“Huh,” he said.

“What?” Janus asked.

Logan pointed to another dot, a yellow one. “Where did that one come from?”


	3. Chapter 3

Roman stomped down the stairs of the apartment complex. He always had the same argument with Patton about Virgil. Roman would question Virgil’s actions, Patton would defend Virgil, Roman would say he thought Patton was his best friend, Patton would refuse to pick sides… Patton just couldn’t see how much Virgil _wasn’t_ the hero Patton thought he was. It was not like Roman would explain why he and Virgil were enemies, so he walked away. Like always. He began to wonder why he even engaged in the discussion every time.

He walked out the main door into the crisp air. He shivered. In his hurry he’d forgotten his coat. He almost turned around to re-enter the building, but two men already walked in and he figured he would come off as suspicious if he followed so closely behind. There was a big chance he’d be recognised.

He wrapped his arms around him to preserve the body heat, and began an aimless walk.


	4. Chapter 4

Virgil pulled up the hood of his hoodie and dropped down on the couch. In the comfort of his own home it was acceptable to have his hood up, something he’d been wanting to do all morning because all the input from his senses could become too much at times. The fact that he’d only slept for five hours last day didn’t make him less irritable. He closed his eyes and forced his body to relax.

A muffled chime of his phone came from his backpack that he’d dropped on his way from the front door to the couch. At the moment, he wasn’t in the mood to get up from where he lay faceplanted on the soft cushions and he wasn’t feeling particularly anxious about ignoring his phone. That changed when his phone chimed with a message once more, and again. With a sigh he got up from the couch. He stood still for a moment as he let the sudden dizziness pass, and grabbed his bag. He plopped back on the couch in a sitting position and pulled out his phone, discarding his bag again.

He ran a hand over his face and started typing a response to Patton. He let his eyes glaze over and jumped when his phone vibrated in his hand. He quickly texted Patton back.

After agreeing to meet up in the park later that day, they said their goodbyes and Virgil turned off his phone completely, lying back on the couch. He deserved a nap.


	5. Chapter 5

Logan watched his brother and cousin enter the building. He refused to call them his partners in crime, because Logan was _not_ their partner, even less in crime. He was dragged into all this business after accidentally stumbling upon some of his brother’s documents. At least, that’s what he’d told Janus. Logan had known his bother and cousin were doing _something_ , but they hid it from him very well. Fuelled by his curiosity, he started investigating on his own, and found the documents. He’d carefully read it, decided Janus and Remus could use a braincell, and made the finding of the documents look like an accident. He regretted joining them very much after three years.

Still, he didn’t regret bringing some sense to the pair. Without Logan, they probably would’ve been arrested one way or another. He knew his input was appreciated by Janus and Remus.

But he was _not_ their partner.

Logan kept very still as to not draw any attention to himself. The person in the red hoodie had been pacing back and forth for a while, which was very much not ideal for the plan. Logan vaguely wondered why they weren’t wearing a coat or something of the like, since it was very cold and the person _looked_ like they were cold too.

He counted to ten in his head and took a deep breath. He had to confront the person. Or rather, he had to distract the person from what was going to happen. Janus and Remus wouldn’t like any witnesses of the kidnapping of a supervillain.


	6. Chapter 6

“Where is that little shit?” Janus hissed.

“Who?” Patton asked politely.

“Shut up,” Remus said. He and Janus both grabbed Patton’s arms tighter and began guiding the blindfolded man between them to the car.

“Maybe I know him,” Patton said, not seeming bothered by the way he was being treated.

“And maybe you don’t,” Janus said, letting Patton go to unlock the car. Remus immediately took Patton by both arms and shoved him roughly onto the back seat of the car after Janus opened the door.

“Careful,” Patton mumbled.

“Be quiet,” Remus commanded.

“Maybe if you-”

Patton had no other choice but to shut up when Remus knocked him unconscious.

Remus and Janus looked at the unmoving person on the backseat of the car, then looked at each other.

“So…” Remus broke the silence. “Are we going to wait for Logan?”

Janus shrugged. “He knows he should’ve been here, right? He probably has a good reason for not being here. I think it’s better to get out of here as quickly as possible before we get caught.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in this house we do not assume one's gender

Roman followed Lilly into the restaurant. He wasn’t sure why this complete stranger thought going to a restaurant, of all places, was a good idea for… whatever Lilly’s plan was. They seemed to be sure of themself and they seemed friendly, so Roman wasn’t going to argue. At least it was warm in the restaurant.

Lilly smiled at Roman. “We’ll have to pretend to be a couple,” they said. Roman smiled back, a little unsure.

“Sure,” he said, and looped his arm through Lilly’s. Lilly smiled wider and looked away, to the waiter who was approaching them to guide them to a table.

Roman took a chair opposite Lilly and looked around the restaurant. It wasn’t a too fancy one, but it wasn’t not fancy either. The waiter handed them their menus and left them alone. He wondered why the restaurant was even opened before the afternoon.

Roman opened his menu and looked through all the options. He hoped Lilly was going to pay for him, since he’d left his wallet at the apartment and he didn’t have enough money anyway. He went to ask Lilly what they were ordering, but the words died in his throat when he looked up and looked directly into Lilly’s eyes. They hadn’t even opened their menu.

“Order cinnamon tea, I hear it tastes great,” Lilly said conversationally, not breaking their eye contact. They sounded kinder than they were looking. Roman felt like a kid again, squirming under the gaze of a teacher he had just told that he had broken his classmate’s toy.

“Okay,” he said, not looking away either. Remembering his initial question, he asked, “Are you ordering that as well?”

Lilly finally looked down at their menu and Roman felt himself relax a little. “Yes, I think I will,” Lilly said. They adjusted their glasses and looked up at Roman again, not as intensely as two seconds ago.

“Let’s see. What’s your favourite animal?” they asked.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chronology? Who is she?

Logan took another deep breath before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking around the corner towards the person in the red hoodie. They jumped when they caught sight of Logan, but recovered quickly, halting their pacing.

“Hello, stranger!” they said. Logan repressed the urge to snort at the outlandish greeting.

“Good morning,” he responded. He pretended to be uninterested and kept walking, but suddenly stopped, immediately feeling the person’s eyes on him.

“I imagine you must be cold,” Logan said, squinting at the person, who looked baffled.

“Uh. Yeah, I am, in fact. I don’t suppose you’re carrying an extra coat with you,” they said with a friendly laugh.

Logan smiled back equally friendly. “No, you’re right. But I was just on my way to a warm place, and I wouldn’t mind you joining me,” he suggested.

The person agreed with a “Why not?”, and Logan was relieved by how talkative they were. On the way to the restaurant, they told Logan about the argument they had with their roommate, and in the impression they did of their roommate he noted that he used he/him pronouns.

“It’s always the same argument! Anyway, my name’s Roman, what’s yours?”

Logan looked at Roman next to him, slightly amused by how his full attention was now on Logan, a sharp contrast to seconds ago. “I’m L-”

He was interrupted by his phone ringing. He swore under his breath and grabbed his phone. Janus.

“Are you going to pick up?” Roman asked with a hint of curiosity.

Logan ignored him, and waited for the call to end. He didn’t want to risk having to explain that he was distracting the stranger from the kidnapping, when said stranger was right next to him. Then he put his phone on silent and pocketed it again. He offered Roman a polite smile. “Nope,” he said, and he entered the restaurant he was sure Roman hadn’t noticed they were in front of.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Virgil's superpower in action

Virgil woke up with a start. He let his mind be overwhelmed with visions for a moment, before picking one to focus on. He focused on the one with Teach in it. He knew Teach wasn’t his real name, but he had followed him around one time and one of the people around him had called him Teach. Virgil had no idea what his real name was, and he didn’t really bother finding out. He often had visions of Teach, and he wondered why. Teach seemed like a normal person to him, although the people he often met up with weren’t that normal in Virgil’s opinion.

In this vision, he saw Teach enter a basement. He looked around before his eyes landed on someone tied up in a chair. Virgil’s suspicion was raised immediately. Why did Teach, of all people, have someone tied up in his basement? Then he saw two familiar faces, and Virgil sighed. Of course it was their doing. They always did the most random stuff.

He saw the three people suddenly look to the person in the chair, who seemed to wake up. _Wait,_ Virgil thought with a start. He tried to focus on the tied person. Virgil’s eyes flew open when he recognised Patton and the vision disappeared. His heart pounded in his chest and he jumped off the couch to grab his bag. He fumbled for his keys before he realised he had no idea what to do. He wondered if Patton’s roommate knew.

Then he realised that what he’d seen in the vision wasn’t necessarily happening that exact moment. His visions never quite listened to chronology. The thought only made him more nervous. He couldn’t prevent it, he had tried that before. Would he have been able to prevent Patton’s kidnapping if he hadn’t been sleeping?


	10. Chapter 10

Roman opened the door to his and Patton’s apartment and froze in the doorway, keys clutched between his fingers. It wasn’t abnormal that the lights were off, but the fact that _there was a broken vase on the ground_ was quite something to give Roman the feeling that something wasn’t right. If there was a broken vase on the ground with soil all around the shards and the plant itself trampled, someone must’ve heard that happen. The only one around who could’ve possibly heard that happen was Patton, and since it hadn’t been cleaned, he reasoned that Patton hadn’t heard it fall.

It came to Roman that _something_ must have caused the vase to fall. That, the fact that it hadn’t been cleaned, the fact that the lights were off, and the fact that Patton wasn’t home but his coat was, drew Roman to the conclusion that Patton had been kidnapped a while ago.

Or he had broken the vase, panicked, and gone to the store to get a new one. But then he would’ve taken his coat.

“Patton?” Roman called, just to be sure. He received no response.


	11. Chapter 11

Virgil paced around the living room. Or, he would’ve if his blankets weren’t so warm. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and rested his chin on his hands. Some rom-com was playing on the tv, which Virgil stared unseeingly at. He had no way of knowing when Patton was or would be kidnapped. Besides, what could he do? He could never change whatever it was he saw in his visions. But he could at least try to help Patton by rescuing him from whatever the local dumbasses were planning to do with him. Come to think of it, what _were_ they planning? Virgil had never seen any of their plans work out. Most of the time Teach was there to get them out of the most trouble and talk some sense into them.

Virgil had already texted Patton to make sure he was okay. Patton hadn’t texted him back yet, but Virgil was too anxious to make a phone call. Maybe he was just in the shower.

The only way to make sure that Patton was okay, was to contact his roommate. Or visit his apartment, but to be honest he had no idea where Patton lived, because Patton knew of his “disagreement” – more like animosity, in Virgil’s opinion – with Roman and made sure he didn’t reveal where he lived. Why Patton had given him Roman’s number anyway made no sense.

His phone was threateningly present on the coffee table in front of him. Just one text – _Hey, is Patton okay? I got a vision that he’d be abducted and wanted to make sure it already happened before I go all out to rescue him. Would be weird if I showed up at the kidnappers’ place before it happened, right? Haha, no big deal, just making sure-_ Virgil scowled. How would he address his archenemy?

Okay, archenemy was not a word Virgil liked to use, it was just what Roman called him. Virgil didn’t really care, or that’s what he told himself anyway. He was more confused about _why_ Roman had declared them enemies than he was upset at the fact that they _were_ enemies.

With no other options, Virgil waited. Until the scheduled meetup later that day. Until Virgil had been waiting in the park for ten minutes without Patton showing. Until he would be sure that Patton had in fact been kidnapped and that every second Virgil spent waiting for nobody was a second he could’ve used to free Patton.


	12. Chapter 12

“What, exactly, is your plan?” Logan asked with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. Remus and Janus exchanged a look.

The kidnapped guy looked between the three of them with a weary look. Logan tried to look reassuring, but he wasn’t sure he succeeded.

“Well, you know…” Remus began, which immediately sounded like they didn’t actually plan anything.

“Look,” Logan interrupted him, “I don’t want to hear your excuses. This wasn’t _my_ plan. Whatever you’re about to say had better be honest, because I won’t be putting up with your shit for any longer otherwise.”

Remus looked truly miserable and Janus began to say something, but Logan shut him up immediately.

“I’m not trusting anything that comes out of your mouth at the moment, Janus,” he said. “Remus?”

His cousin stuck out his tongue at Janus.

“Real mature,” Logan heard Janus mutter.

“Okay, first of all,” Remus started, ignoring Janus. “It’s not my fault we got the wrong guy. How the hell was I supposed to know he had a roommate? The location matched up to what we calculated before, and when we checked again in the car, the red dot was indeed moving away from the first location. I mean, who else could’ve been leaving the building at the same time without us noticing? We broke the computer by the way, that was totally my fault.”

“Hey, wait a minute-”

“Besides, _we have his roommate!_ I bet he can tell us where the supervillain is.”

“Logan-”

“Plus, we won’t have to worry about his roommate stumbling in on the scene. Unless he has another roommate?” Remus raised his eyebrows questioningly at the tied up guy in the middle of the room, completely ignoring Janus’s calls for attention.

The guy in blue shrugged for as best as he could while being tied tightly to the chair.

Logan looked at him for a moment.

“Alright,” he said. “The supervillain whose name you didn’t even bother to get before kidnapping, was at the building when we got there, correct?”

Remus nodded. Janus still looked like he wanted to say something, but let Logan speak.

“And he was moving away at the same time as you were, after the abduction.”

Remus nodded again.

“So who else did we see that left the- Wait a minute.” Logan froze as the realisation hit him. “Wait a fucking minute.”

“ _That’s_ what I was going to say,” Janus exclaimed. “Who the _fuck_ was the guy you ran off with.”


	13. Chapter 13

Fortunately for Roman, Patton’s phone was still at the apartment. He’d found more signs of an abduction, like the voice message left on Patton’s phone on which Roman heard two unfamiliar voices, and Patton trying to reason with the kidnappers. He also heard the unmistakable sound of a vase breaking as Patton was dragged away, and the door slamming shut. The recording lasted for exactly one hour, because that’s when the recorder automatically stopped recording. Another fortunate thing was that Roman could tell from the info of the recording that the kidnap happened shortly after Roman had left.

He was now pacing around the living room, trying to think what the best course of action was. He was eighty percent sure that the two people who had kidnapped Patton were the same people he’d seen enter the building just as Roman had wanted to re-enter it but had decided against it. Now he wished he hadn’t.

A _ping!_ he usually would’ve found annoying but sounded like an angel chorus right now pierced through Roman’s thoughts. Roman jumped and sprinted over to where Patton’s phone was on the dining table. He unlocked the phone and read the message.

_Hey Pat, I had a weird vision. Just wanted to make sure you’re okay._

Virgil.

Right.

Virgil got visions. Virgil probably knew Patton was kidnapped. Virgil probably knew where Patton was, but didn’t know when it would happen. Roman put the phone back on the table and balled his hands into fists.

He didn’t want Virgil to interfere with his rescue mission.


	14. Chapter 14

“I propose two of us go back the villain’s apartment to wait for him and one of us stays here with the puppy fucker,” Remus said triumphantly.

“Goodness, Remus, that is not something I wanted to imagine,” Janus said, rubbing his eyes.

“If by “puppy fucker” you mean him,” Logan began, pointing at the silent guy who had been moved to the corner, “Then I approve your proposal. Who will stay here?”

“Is that even a question?” Janus asked while Remus cheered.

“Yes, of course that’s a question,” Logan said.

“You stay here, nerd,” Remus said cheerfully.

Logan considered protesting, just this once, but he wouldn’t want to be alone with either Janus or Remus. “Alright,” he said, glancing at the person who had been following their conversation minutely. “What’s your name?”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh I have no idea how old they all are, I think they’re like, young adults

Roman watched.

He hid in the bushes and watched.

He saw Virgil sit on the bench, waiting for Patton in his signature black hoodie that he wore when he wasn’t out doing… heroic stuff, or something. He didn’t seem relaxed at all, one leg was tugged under the other that he swung back and forth. He scanned the area regularly, and Roman could see him growing antsier as time went on.

About fifteen minutes after Patton was supposed to show up, Virgil pocketed his phone that he had been checking religiously, and he stood. Time for Roman to come in action. If his joints didn’t protest too much, anyway. Crouching in the bushes came with a price.

Roman tried to act casual when he walked to Virgil.

“Hey, Virgil?” he pretended to sound surprised. “What are you doing here?”

In Roman’s script, Virgil would tell him that he was waiting for Patton, and Roman would tell him that Patton was recovering from an intense abduction Roman had saved him from, and had lost his phone to his kidnappers.

“Nothing,” Virgil said curtly, not following the script at all. Virgil breezed past Roman, and Roman turned and followed him.

“I thought you were here for Patton?” he asked, almost running to keep up with his enemy’s fast pace.

“Then why did you ask what I’m doing here?” Virgil shot back. “No, wait, don’t answer that.” He walked possibly even faster. Roman grabbed his arm.

“Hey, let me go!”

Roman didn’t let go, keeping Virgil from running away. Virgil glared at him.

“You’re probably wondering where Patton is,” Roman said reasonably. Virgil kept glaring and tugging on his arm.

“Well,” Roman continued, “He was kidnapped yesterday, but I rescued him. You should be thankful.”

“You’re an asshole,” Virgil grumbled. “How did you find him anyway?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for the excessive amount of times “puppy fucker” is said

“I’m not going to tell you,” the guy in blue said with a pleasant smile. Logan rolled his eyes. Of course he wouldn’t give anyone his name.

“Janus, give me a name I can call him,” Logan requested.

“Why don’t I get to name him? I’ve always wanted to name a baby,” Remus whined.

Janus and Logan levelled him with two identical unimpressed stares.

“Whoa, the sibling energy is simply too much for me…” Remus said sarcastically, lifting his hands defensively. He grinned. “I would’ve called him puppy fucker anyway.”

Logan simply rolled his eyes and looked back at his brother. “Janus?” he prompted.

Janus shrugged. “It’s not like it really matters. Call him puppy fucker if you like.”

“Oh my goodness, I am _not_ calling him puppy fucker,” Logan said, sighing deeply and rubbing his temples. The guy in question didn’t seem interested in the conversation at all.

“Hey puppy fucker,” Remus addressed the guy, “What would you like to be called?”

The guy lifted his eyebrows and shrugged awkwardly. “Puppy… fucker… is fine with me!” he said, his tone not matching his words.

Logan didn’t even bother responding, he just left the room. He was _not_ calling him puppy fucker. He’d heard the words way too many times now. And the guy was too sweet to be addressed with that name.

He halted in the hallway. What was that thought he just thought? He didn’t even know the guy; how could he seem a sweet person to Logan? The guy had barely said a word.

Taking a deep breath, he turned on his heel and re-entered the room. He was immediately greeted with a cheer.

“I knew you’d come back!” Remus said. Logan ignored him and adjusted his glasses.

“Janus, Remus, you’d better get going or you’re going to miss his roommate coming home,” Logan said, not taking no for an answer.


	17. Chapter 17

Virgil squinted at Roman. How much of what Roman told him was true? Roman claimed that Patton had already been abducted, this morning. The vision Virgil had seen had been one that played in the morning as well, so Patton must have been rescued _very_ recently. Roman _did_ seem tired, but Virgil hadn’t had any visions of him. That should mean something, right? Virgil always got visions of Roman when he was on a dangerous mission. Virgil had a theory that visions came through when the person he got a vision of got a burst of adrenaline. Not every time someone got an adrenaline rush, of course, or he’d get too many visions of people in rollercoasters.

Now that he thought about it, hadn’t there been a vision of Roman he’d ignored in favour of seeing the one with Teach?

“I just thought I’d tell you, you know? No big deal, or whatever,” Roman rambled. Virgil didn’t mind the grip on his arm anymore because he was starting to have another vision and Roman helped keep him upright, unintentionally. He closed his eyes.

He saw the two dumbasses who had kidnapped Patton. They were in front of a building Virgil didn’t recognise. One of them, the one with a moustache who Virgil logically called Moustache, pushed the main door open and started climbing the stairs. The other, Snake, followed closely behind.

Moustache motioned for Snake, who picked the lock of one of the apartment doors. They opened the door carefully, but nothing else happened. They went inside and closed the door behind them. Then the vision faded away and Virgil became aware that he was being held tightly under the armpits by Roman. He immediately tensed and slapped Roman’s hands back. Roman recoiled and let him go.

“What the hell just happened?” Roman as good as shrieked with wide eyes.

Virgil dragged a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “Ta-da,” he said, “You’ve witnessed me getting a vision. Satisfied?”

Roman gasped. “What did you see?”

Virgil smirked. “I saw that you’re a dirty liar,” he bluffed.


	18. Chapter 18

Roman was explaining to Virgil why he had come here, but Virgil didn’t seem to be paying attention to him. He had even stopped struggling and got a far-off look. Roman hesitated, and then Virgil closed his eyes and went as good as limp. Roman immediately gripped him tighter, under his arms, but Virgil managed to stay on his feet by himself. “Virgil?” Roman asked worriedly.

As soon as it began, it was over. Virgil blinked a few times and slapped Roman’s hands away. Still shaken by the strange incident, Roman took his hands off him in case anything bad would happen to him. “What the hell just happened?” Roman said, sounding more panicked than he intended. It was not like he cared for his enemy or whatever.

“Ta-da, you’ve witnessed me getting a vision. Satisfied?” Virgil said, looking and sounding more tired than before.

Roman knew that Virgil’s “superpower” was that he got visions, just like Roman’s was that he could manipulate objects. He had only never seen him get one before. “What did you see?” Roman asked, wondering if Virgil had gotten any news on Patton.

Virgil smirked and Roman felt his stomach quench. “I saw that you’re a dirty liar,” Virgil said.

Roman squinted. “ _What_ did you see?” he commanded, grasping for Virgil’s arm again, but Virgil took a step back out of his reach. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

“Why would I tell you?”

Roman opened his mouth to answer, but Virgil turned and walked away from Roman.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Roman yelled. Virgil put the hood of his hoodie up and ignored him.


	19. Chapter 19

Logan tried to imagine the experience of being in this room for the first time. It was kind of dark since it had no windows, due to it being under the ground. That’s also why it had such a low ceiling. He was sure there weren’t any mice or rats, but spiders tended to make their webs in the corners of this room and the other rooms in the basement.

Kind of cliché to keep the person you abducted in the basement, but it was Remus’s idea. Of course it was Remus’s idea. They did all their superhero-related business in the basement.

The tied up guy Logan still didn’t have a name for yawned. Logan continued clicking on random things on his laptop while discreetly keeping an eye on the guy. Maybe he should just call him “Guy”. Something occurred to Logan and he sent a text to his brother.

“Are you hungry? Or thirsty?” Logan asked suddenly, startling the guy.

The guy hummed. “Yeah, I am,” he said. Logan noticed for the second time how sweet he sounded.

Logan nodded. “Okay. I’ll see if I can get you something.”

The guy smiled appreciatively at him and Logan smiled back before leaving the room.


	20. Chapter 20

“Okay, so I may have lied about rescuing Patton,” Roman said out of breath. Virgil kept speed walking, seemingly ignoring Roman while hanging on to every word he said. Patton was probably still at the dumbasses’ place. So when did or would the dumbasses break into a home? Was it before or after they kidnapped Patton?

Virgil had no idea where he was going, but Roman kept following him around, trying to get Virgil to listen to him. When he felt another vision come up, one he could repress but actually wanted to see, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to Roman. Roman almost bumped into him.

“Whoa, dude, what are you doing? Decided to finally listen to me?”

Virgil held up a hand. “Listen, Princey. I don’t care about whatever you’re trying to tell me. I’m having another vision.” Immediately after, he closed his eyes and let the vision overwhelm him, but not without noticing the panicked expression on Roman’s face with amusement.


	21. Chapter 21

Logan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He put the cups on the counter and unlocked his phone. According to Janus, the guy’s name was either Patton or Roman, since he and Remus had found both names around the apartment. Logan considered this while filling the cups with orange juice. He took a container with leftovers from the fridge and two forks, and took it all downstairs to Roman or Patton.

Logan found the guy bouncing his leg when he returned. He put the food and beverages on the table and looked at the guy, who stopped bouncing his leg and looked up at Logan expectantly, squinting his eyes a bit.

“Um,” Logan said eloquently. He’d have to move Patton or Roman with his chair to the table. But most importantly, the guy couldn’t use his arms. He’d have to be fed, and Logan was not looking forward to that.


	22. Chapter 22

Roman was afraid he was holding Virgil too tightly, but at the same time he reminded himself that it didn’t matter. They were enemies. Virgil was the hero, Roman was the villain. That’s what everyone told him. Little did they know that Virgil was the real villain. Roman shuddered at the memory of… He forced himself to think about other things. He didn’t care if his grip on Virgil hurt him.

Virgil opened his eyes after a moment and was able to support his own weight again. Roman let go of him. Virgil grimaced at Roman and pulled his phone from his pocket.

“What did you see?” Roman asked before he could help it.

Virgil shot him a glance, then continued typing something into his phone. “Something terrible.” He used both thumbs to zoom in on something.

“What? What are you doing?”

Virgil mumbled something, but Roman refused to lean closer to hear him properly. Then Virgil exclaimed, “Got it!”

“Got what?”

Virgil showed Roman his phone. There was a map with instructions to a place on a ten minute walk from where they were in the park.

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Is that were Patton is being held captive?”

“You’ll see.”


	23. Chapter 23

“Could I go to the toilet, Logan?” the guy in blue asked sweetly. Logan noticed he used every opportunity he got to call Logan by his name, probably as an attempt to annoy Logan over the fact that he still didn’t know the guy’s name. Logan hadn’t told him that he knew his name was either Patton or Roman, because he wanted to be a hundred percent sure before he – dramatically – revealed that he _did_ know his name. Remus was rubbing off on him.

Logan forced himself to focus on the other issue at hand; the fact that the guy had to _pee_. Logan had fed him, he wasn’t going to help him with this. But he wasn’t going to deny him a bathroom break either, or whatever that would be called in this context.

“Of course,” Logan said. He saw Patton or Roman’s eyes widen in surprise for a moment before he schooled his expression.

“How?” he asked tentatively.

Logan sighed. _Why not,_ he thought before he said, “I’ll release you, you’ll go to the toilet, you come back, I tie you back up if I’m feeling up for it. Don’t try anything funny.” He’d heard that last phrase from Janus once. He didn’t know if his words were effective.

The guy immediately nodded. “Of course!” he said. Logan nodded once, and began untying the rope around the guy’s waist, arms, and ankles. Once he was released, Logan showed him to the toilet and Patton or Roman smiled gratefully at him. Logan couldn’t help but smile back. He wondered why the guy was being so nice.


	24. Chapter 24

“It should be around here somewhere,” Virgil mumbled, looking from his phone to the buildings around him and back. Roman hoped Patton was doing okay. A shout made Virgil look up from his phone. Roman’s heart jumped and he instinctively started running in the direction the shout had sounded from, Virgil following closely behind after a moment of hesitation. Roman could hear more sounds as he approached, and when he came around the corner he could see why.

A teenager was on the ground with their back against the wall, holding their hands protectively over their head. Roman smelled cigarette smoke, and he saw one of the two large men in the alleyway holding a cigarette. The men wore formal clothes and probably had lunch break. The kid, however, wore a black sleeveless jean jacket and a black skirt. Roman wondered what they were doing here, being beating up by two official-looking men in suits.

The three people in the alley hadn’t caught sight of him and Virgil yet. He hesitated, and saw that his first impression was wrong. The men weren’t beating the kid, just threatening them.

“What do you think you’re doing here, kid?” the man with the cigarette said. The other kneeled on the ground next to the kid and Roman felt his heart try to jump from his chest. He exchanged a look with Virgil, whose face mirrored his concern.

The man on the ground stood up again, and Roman frowned. Then he saw the cigarette he’d picked up from the ground. The kid was shaking.

The second man said something Roman couldn’t hear, and the first man, bringing his cigarette to his lips, laughed. The kid began to scramble away, but the men noticed. The second man threw his cigarette at the kid, followed by the other man’s booming laughter. The kid sprung to their feet, but the laughing man lunged forward and grabbed them by the upper arms. The kid gave a shriek. Virgil ran around Roman into the alleyway.

“Hey! Let them go!” he shouted. The men looked at Virgil in surprise, and Roman came up behind him to block the alley. Taking advantage of the situation, the kid gave a strong tug on their arms and broke free. Virgil made way for them and when the kid passed Roman, he could see that their makeup was ruined by the tears streaming down their face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's quite obvious who the "kid" is lol, I'll add their tag the next time they show up
> 
> Also, I would like to say that I have a sequel planned for this fic despite having no idea yet how this one will end :) We'll see, we'll see


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, warning for violence

Virgil watched the kid go. With his back to the men, he was too late to react to one of them hooking an arm around his throat. His vision from earlier had ended with the kid escaping. Roman jumped to action with a scream, which was a little unnecessary in Virgil’s opinion, throwing a punch to the other man who threw himself towards Roman. The man holding Virgil gripped him tighter and he could barely breathe. He kicked behind him at the man’s shins, gasping for air.

He heard more screams, from the man Roman was attacking as well, and in a flash he saw the kid again. He wasn’t sure if what he saw was real or a vision. That was the disadvantage of having visions; in situations like this he got flashes of visions all the time, which could be useful but was generally quite distracting. Everything he was saw spotted with black dots anyway, because he couldn’t get enough air.

Suddenly the man let Virgil go with a scream. Virgil fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. Everything around him seemed to be spinning. A bright orange light and smoke filled the alley.

“We have to get out of here!” he heard the kid say. Roman yelled something back. Soft hands were placed under Virgil’s arms.

“Come on, lean on me,” the kid said to Virgil. When Virgil was standing up another wave of dizziness hit him and he grabbed the kid’s shoulders.

“Come on!” they yelled, pulling Virgil away from the fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when i said i would tag the kid the next time they showed up, i actually meant the time after this one because then they introduce themself


	26. Chapter 26

Logan paced back and forth in the hallway. He hoped his brother and cousin would be home soon with the _right_ guy. He suddenly froze. Why had they all completely looked over the fact that the guy they were after had _superpowers_? It seemed so simple. Go to the villain’s location, kidnap him, bring him here. To be honest, Logan hadn’t been trusted with the reason _why_ they wanted to kidnap the villain. But had they really been so stupid to forget that he wasn’t a villain without reason?

His phone was in the room he and Patton or Roman had just left. Logan was supposed to guard the bathroom door. He looked at the unlocked door. He heard slight rustling of clothes behind it. He could wait.

When the guy left the bathroom, Logan guided him back to the room. Without saying a word, the two took their respective places, although the guy looked surprised when Logan didn’t tie him to his chair. Logan just didn’t see any reason why he would have to. The guy didn’t seem so bad.

Logan dialled his brother’s number on his phone. Janus didn’t pick up, and frustratedly he called his cousin. Remus picked up immediately. Logan heard a lot of noise before Remus said hysterically, “Now’s not a good time, we’ll call you back!” and ended the call.

He looked at the guy with his phone still against his ear. “What?” he whispered. He frowned and looked at his phone. He texted Remus, asking him what was going on, but, as expected, didn’t get a text back.

Logan adjusted his glasses and looked at the guy opposite him. “It seems like we have to fill the time somehow.”


	27. Chapter 27

“What exactly happened?” Virgil asked when he could breathe normally again. The kid who had introduced themself as Elliott offered him a bottle of water. Virgil took it gratefully.

Roman sat down on the bench on the opposite side of the park’s path. He sighed. “I don’t know exactly. Those guys attacked us-”

“It began when I walked into that alley,” Elliott interrupted him. “I wasn’t exactly… I asked them to step aside because…” They sighed, not making eye contact. Virgil knew they weren’t telling the truth, but didn’t comment on it. “Anyway, they were on the phone with someone and they accused me of interrupting them, or something. Then I asked them again if they could just make way, but they wouldn’t let me go through, you know.” They shrugged, looking at Virgil next to them on the bench. “Then you guys showed up after they pushed me to the ground. How did you find me?”

Virgil let out a humourless chuckle. “I saw in a vision that you were in trouble.”

“ _That’s_ what your vision was of?” Roman asked in disbelief at the same time Elliott asked “ _A vision?_ ” Virgil waved their questions away.

“I thought they assaulted you for the way you were dressed and that hit a little too close to home, so I felt like I needed to come help you.” He felt slightly out of breath from revealing so much personal information to a stranger and his enemy. It wasn’t actually a lot of information, but it _was_ personal.

Elliott was still gaping at him. “You got a vision of me? Who are you?” They pointed at Roman. “And you! Where did you suddenly get that fire extinguisher?” Before either of them could answer, Elliott gasped, looking between Roman and Virgil on opposite sides of the path. “You’re not the Dark Princes, are you?”


	28. Chapter 28

“The _what_?” Roman exclaimed.

Elliott cringed. “You know, you with the object manipulation and you with the visions… You have superpowers, right?”

“We do,” Roman said, “But what did you call us? _The dark princes?_ ” He gave Virgil a disbelieving look when he heard him chuckle.

“It kind of makes sense,” Virgil said, leaning back on the bench.

“ _How_ does it make sense?” Roman asked indignantly. Elliott looked between the two of them.

“The Dark Princes work _together_?” they said in awe.

Virgil dragged a hand through his hair and sighed. “It doesn’t matter, can we please go back to filling me in on what happened?”

Roman felt like it mattered a lot, but Elliott agreed with Virgil.

“Alright. So you,” Elliot pointed to Virgil, “Made the men stop bothering me. Thank you, by the way. Then before getting as far away as possible I saw the men attacking you.”

“And you thought we needed help,” Roman said dryly.

“It’s true, though,” Virgil said unimpressed to Roman. Roman scoffed.

“I’m not exactly sure what happened next,” Elliott said. “I punched the guy you were fighting,” they looked at Roman, “and you mysteriously had a sword? Who the hell fights with a sword?”

Virgil snorted. “He does.”

Roman scoffed and tried really hard not to pout. “A sword is really useful, especially since nobody knows how to defend themselves against one anymore.”

“But you don’t know how to fight with it either,” Virgil mumbled.

“I _do_!”

“Anyway,” Elliott interrupted, receiving a glare from Roman, “I, uh, as you said, I came back to help you fight those men.”

Virgil shifted in his seat. “Okay, yes, I got that. How was there suddenly _fire_?”

Roman cleared his throat. “Did you notice those men were smoking? They had lighters. They set my clothes on fire.” He saw Virgil’s eyes widen and scan his clothes.

“But-”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Object manipulation, remember? My clothes _look_ fine.”

“Right,” Virgil said. “So how did that fire get so big?”

Before Roman got the chance to answer, Elliott chuckled. “The fire from his clothes jumped to those of the man who started the fire.”

Virgil huffed a laugh. “Cool.” He looked over at Roman. “How come the firefighters weren’t called? Or the police?”

“Oh, I did call them,” Elliott said. “I said you were here and had it under control. They didn’t bother coming.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Irresponsible.” Elliott had told him they were calling the police and Roman had tried to stop them. They did it anyway. _I’m the villain,_ Roman reminded himself.


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ajkzkdjsk I love writing Patton and Logan so much, I’m sorry their chapters are so much shorter than the ones with Roman and Virgil

The guy in blue squinted at the chess pieces in front of him. Logan could’ve won a few moves ago, but he liked seeing the other so concentrated on the game. It was… Logan couldn’t give it a word. The first word his mind supplied was “cute”, but Logan frowned internally. How could he call a stranger his brother and cousin had kidnapped _cute_?

“If I win,” the guy in front of him suddenly said after moving his tower, “I want a milkshake. Banana flavour.”

Logan raised his eyebrows. “Yes, I guess I owe you for keeping you locked-”

“No, no!” the guy interrupted him with raised hands. “You don’t owe me anything, Logan. Only if I win.”

Logan considered that. A banana milkshake sounded harmless. He didn’t know where he was going to get one, but he would figure that out if he lost. He probably wouldn’t.

“Okay,” he finally said. “And if I win…”

“I’ll tell you my name, Logan,” the other said with a small smile.

Logan blinked at him. The guy smiled back.

“I already know your name, Patton,” Logan said. Not as dramatic as he’d hoped.


	30. Chapter 30

Virgil followed Roman. They had made sure Elliott was fine and had given them their numbers. Elliott had asked for their real names, but Virgil and Roman wouldn’t tell them. Roman was now on his way home for some better clothes. According to him, manipulating his clothes to look okay took quite a bit of energy and concentration. Virgil was surprised that Roman hadn’t become angry that Virgil hadn’t led them to Patton.

Roman _did_ ask Virgil explicitly to come with him so they could look for Patton together, after a quick shower because he couldn’t whisk the smell of fire and smoke away. As they came closer to Roman and Patton’s apartment, an uneasy feeling began to settle in Virgil’s stomach. He felt like he vaguely recognised his surroundings.

“We’re here,” Roman said when they stopped in front of one of the apartment complexes. Virgil looked up and around him.

“I recognise this place,” he said. “It appeared in my vision.”

Roman gave him a look. “Which one? The one you got in the park? The first one?”

“Yes. There were two men who went in and broke into a home. Yours, maybe.” He shuffled his feet.

Roman waved it away. “That was when they kidnapped Patton. You probably saw me walking around here.” He gestured around him and entered the building, Virgil following closely. He wasn’t sure if he had seen Roman.


	31. Chapter 31

“What are you doing?” Remus asked.

Janus skimmed through a stack of envelopes he’d found on the coffee table. “Looking for the villain’s name. Logan asked if I could find the name of the guy we abducted here.”

Remus clicked his tongue. “That’s actually really clever.”

Janus looked up. “Maybe. There are two names. Roman and Patton. It could be either.”

They continued searching the rest of the apartment while keeping an eye on the door. After a while Remus called for Janus.

“Look, it’s the wallet of the guy we kidnapped.” They searched through the contents and found an ID.

Janus texted Logan that the guy they had kidnapped was called Patton, which made the other Roman. He saw that Logan had read the text, but didn’t respond. Janus and Remus continued their search through the apartment. They were relatively quiet, apart from random comments like, “Which one of them do you think wears these glasses?” and “They’re gone”, after footsteps passed the front door.

They froze when they heard voices getting closer to the front door of the apartment, and when they heard keys jingling, they quickly took their places on both sides of the doorway at the end of the short hallway. Remus lifted the bat he had found and Janus was ready to capture the villain, a bag in his hands and a ball of rope at his feet.

“There’s two of them,” Remus whispered with wide eyes.

Janus shushed him.


	32. Chapter 32

“Check mate,” Logan said.

Patton pouted. He seriously _pouted_. Logan shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“Well,” Patton said, “I guess I can pick the next game then!”

Logan nodded. “We don’t have many games, but we have some cards, if that’s what you like,” he suggested.

Patton’s face lit up, but he seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Uh, sure! There are lots of games you can play with a stack of cards.”

Logan agreed and he made sure he had his phone with him when he left the room to retrieve the cards from upstairs. He checked his messages, but Janus and Remus hadn’t responded to his texts after the strange phone call with Remus. He was starting to get slightly worried. If only Remus hadn’t broken the computer, he’d have been able to track them down.

When Logan re-entered the basement, he was a little bit surprised to find Patton still sitting there quietly. He didn’t know what he had expected, in all honesty.

Patton smiled at him. “I was thinking of a game that’s very similar to Uno.”

Logan handed him the cards and let Patton explain the game.


	33. Chapter 33

“Roman,” Virgil hissed. The stairwell echoed his voice annoyingly loud. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t see you in my vision.”

Roman didn’t stop climbing the stairs. “Then you should’ve looked better. I’m not that hard to miss.”

Virgil sighed. “That’s my point! I didn’t see you! That’s because _you weren’t there_!”

“Well, I didn’t exactly stick close to those weirdos,” Roman said without turning around.

“I still think you should be more careful,” Virgil said, keeping his volume low, unlike a certain supervillain.

They reached the floor to Roman’s apartment and Virgil nervously stayed behind the other while they walked down the hallway to a door on the right, the same one Virgil had seen Moustache and Snake break into.

“Now I hope I didn’t forget my keys,” Roman said with a chuckle. Virgil groaned.

“Don’t do that, Roman,” he said with annoyance. Roman turned to him, a hand in a pocket of his jacket and raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t do what, _Virgil_?” Roman asked challengingly.

Virgil rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on Roman’s pocket where he hoped Roman would find his key. Or maybe it was better if he didn’t find it.

Virgil hopped from one foot to the other while Roman searched his other pocket. He tried to calm himself down, and walked as quietly as possible to the door to listen. He didn’t hear anything on the other side.

Roman cleared his throat and Virgil jumped, making the former chuckle. Virgil sent him a glare. “Could you step out of the way, please?” Roman asked with a blinding smile while he jingled his keys. Virgil scoffed and stepped aside to let Roman unlock the door.


	34. Chapter 34

Patton slapped the last card onto the pile. “I win!” he exclaimed for the fourth time, but no less excited. Logan didn’t mind losing to Patton, he thought it was endearing to see the guy so ecstatic.

“I owe you… a banana milkshake,” Logan listed on his fingers, “Vanilla ice cream, pizza, and a chocolate bar?” Patton nodded happily. Logan faked an exasperated sigh.

“Alright. What do you want if you win the next round?”

Patton narrowed his eyes in thought. “I want…” he began slowly, “to know what we’re waiting for.” He raised an eyebrow challengingly.

Logan searched his face for a moment. “If you win,” he added.

“Of course,” Patton said, a smile starting to show.

“Deal.”

They played another round of whatever the game was called. It was quite similar to Uno and Logan got the hang of it quickly, but Patton had years of experience. After a few minutes of playing, it became clear that Patton would win this round too.

“I win!” Patton exclaimed just as enthusiastically as before as he dropped his last card onto the pile between them. Logan nodded.

“So…” Logan cleared his throat, making eye contact with Patton, who leaned forward with his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands. “I believe we are waiting for my brother and cousin to return. They were supposed to kidnap Roman, but they kidnapped you instead, as I’m sure you’ve deduced for yourself. They have now gone back to your shared apartment to await him there.”

Patton looked at Logan with a blank face. “Why do they want to kidnap Roman?”

Logan didn’t care to mention that he had already answered Patton’s question. He shrugged. “In all honesty, I don’t know. They haven’t told me. Besides, their reasons aren’t always based on logic.”

“Why are you helping them?” Patton looked genuinely curious.

“I’m just here to keep them out of trouble,” Logan said with a shrug and a smile. “Kidnapping a supervillain isn’t my favourite pastime either.”

“Roman is not a supervillain!” Patton blurted, looking truly offended.

Logan tilted his head. “Isn’t he?”

Patton crossed his arms. “No. He’s my best friend.”


	35. Chapter 35

Roman pushed the door open. The ball of nerves behind him peeked over his shoulder. Roman turned to Virgil. “Will you calm down? Nothing is going to happen.”

Virgil sent him a glare. “Out of the two of us, who is the one that can tell the future?” he said in a low voice.

Roman shrugged. Virgil was probably overreacting. He entered his apartment. The broken vase was still on the ground with soil surrounding it. From the corner of his eye he saw Virgil giving it a critical look.

“Relax,” Roman told him, “That stuff was already on the floor.” He walked further into the apartment, in the direction of his room. But when he reached the end of the short hallway leading to the living room, he heard a shriek from behind him and a he saw an object quickly coming for his head. Before it could hit him Roman ducked out of the way and the thing, now identifiable as the bat he kept by his bedside, smashed into the wall. That would’ve definitely given him a concussion if it had hit his head. Before he could think about it any further, a bag was pulled over his head by someone on his left.

“No!” he heard Virgil shriek, which surprised Roman. Was Virgil starting to _care_ about Roman?

The person who’d pulled the bag over Roman’s head was trying to grab Roman’s arms. Roman concentrated and transformed the bag into a bowler hat, subconsciously imitating the one his capturer was wearing, like he noticed as soon as he could see again. So he must’ve seen it before, but he had no time to dwell on that fact as the man succeeded in grabbing one of his arms and twisted it painfully behind his back. Roman swore loudly and at the same time he heard Virgil and the guy who’d swung a bat at him scream at each other.

Roman was being pushed to his knees, but before his knees hit the ground he twisted and swung his free fist at the bowler hat guy. It got him nowhere since the capturer had seen it coming and easily grabbed his wrist. But it gave Roman the time to concentrate and he made the watch he wore around his wrist for this purpose grow spikes. The other yelped in pain and let him go, weakening his grip on the other arm, which Roman took advantage of by tugging himself free completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm posting these chapters less frequently because I'm getting closer to the point where I have to continue writing them... We're getting there slowly but surely  
> Anyway listen to the album Spirit Phone by Lemon Demon, it's one of the only things keeping me alive these days


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t really like writing fights but it just… happens in the story, I generally dislike violence

Visions threatened to take over Virgil, but he focused hard on Moustache in front of him. They were circling around each other in the small living room, sometimes lashing out at the other. Now that he saw the man in real life, he couldn’t help but feel like he’d seen the guy before, apart from in his visions. He seemed familiar in a way.

Virgil was momentarily distracted by Roman swearing and immediately screamed when Moustache lunged forward and planted his nails in Virgil’s arm, which was fortunately covered by his sleeve although he supposed it would still bruise. A vision of Teach sneaked up on Virgil and he repressed it while he tried and succeeded to kick Moustache’s shin.

Moustache grabbed him by his hoodie and snarled at him. Virgil grabbed the other by the shoulders in return as an attempt to push the other off. A buzzing distracted Moustache and he let one of his hands go to his pocket. Virgil tried to push him to the ground.

Virgil heard Snake yelp while he watched Moustache fumble with his phone, while also keeping a strong hold on Virgil. “Now’s not a good time, we’ll call you back!” Moustache shrieked into his phone before throwing it on the couch. Teach’s vision appeared again, but Virgil refocused on Moustache. He didn’t want to be violent towards the guy. The exhaustion from the fight earlier was creeping up on him as well.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this chapter a lot :)

A voice that was quivering from emotion sounded from the headphones. Emilia wasn’t exactly certain what the emotion was that made other’s voice tremble. “Take a deep breath, okay Elliott?” she told them. Elliott cut themself off in order to calm themself down. When Emilia thought they’d calmed down enough to tell her what was going on, she asked, “Alright. Can you start from the beginning? You’re making me worried.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright!” Elliott said. Emilia let out a relieved breath when she could hear their smile. “As I was saying,” they continued more calmly, “I was on my way to my job when two creepy men in business suits or something walked up two me.” Emilia knew Elliott didn’t have job and that when they referred to their “job”, they meant that they were on their way to mug someone. Emilia had tried helping them get a real job, but they wouldn’t accept her help.

“Well, actually,” Elliott corrected themself, “I approached them first, but… Yeah, you know. But instead of the usual “hey, are you robbing me?”, they started insulting me. Like, me, personally.” Emilia noticed the change in tone, but didn’t interrupt them. She let them continue their recounting.

“My clothes, my makeup. Me.” They took a deep breath. “That’s when two strangers showed up.” Emilia frowned.

“They distracted the men and gave me the opportunity to run away. So I did, and I was like “how did they know I was in trouble?”, you know?” Emilia made a noise to let them know she was still listening.

“Well, the strangers fought the men and then I saw they weren’t handling it as well as I thought… One of the men had one of the strangers in a… How do you say that? An iron grip? Around the neck. I don’t think the stranger was getting enough air. Anyway, this is the strange thing. The other stranger was fighting with a _sword_.”

They were both silent for a moment – Elliott waiting for Emilia to react, Emilia processing the information. “A sword?” she asked tentatively. Elliott hummed affirmatively. “A real sword? Why? Were they any good?”

Elliott snorted. “Yes, a real sword. And I don’t know if he was good, I don’t know much about sword fighting anyway. But as he said himself, it doesn’t matter if he’s any good, because most of the time the element of surprise is good enough.”

“Good enough for wh- Wait, most of the time? How often does this person fight people?”

Elliot snorted again. “Does he remind you of anyone?”

Emilia was lost for words. “What? Does he- What? I don’t know anyone who- Should I- Should I know anyone who fights with a sword?”

“Uh, yeah!”

It was silent for a moment until it dawned on Emilia. “Wait… No. It can’t be that prince-guy, right?”

“It was!” Elliott exclaimed. “And the other was the other Dark Prince!”

Emilia gaped at the office door in front of her. “How do you know?”

“They told me! They walked me home after the Prince got rid of the fire-”

“Fire?!”

“-and the Shadow one was alright again. Yes, fire, unimportant. The weirdest thing was that they were working together, though they told me they weren’t. Well, they didn’t exactly say that, they kind of avoided talking about it. Hey, did you know they didn’t know the people call them the Dark Princes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this chapter I have one and a half chapter written, but I don't have school this week so I hope to be writing more!


	38. Chapter 38

“Look,” Virgil said out of breath, not letting go of Moustache. “How about you just leave?”

Moustache grinned deviously at him. “How about you just let us take you?”

“Take me where?”

“Not just you, _both of you_.” Moustache nodded in Roman’s direction. Virgil glanced over just in time to see Roman transform a bowler hat – where did that come from? – into his usual sword. His clothes were showing the burning spots and holes he’d hidden earlier.

“Why would we just go with you?”

Moustache grinned again, but his eyes showed a hint of uncertainty. “Because I say so. Let me go and I won’t harm you more,” he said. Virgil gave him a look which he hoped was an unimpressed look. At this point they were both standing chest to chest, still holding each other’s shoulders tightly. Virgil felt very uncomfortable being this close to the unsettling man.

Virgil scoffed, examining the other’s eyes. “No, are you stupid? Get the hell out of here and take your Snake with you.”

Confusion and fear became more apparent on the man’s face. “No? What do you- Wait, my snake?” Moustache frantically looked around the apartment. Virgil took the opportunity to tackle him and the other let out a scream, gripping Virgil possibly even tighter. Virgil dragged him to the front door, spotting Snake on the floor with Roman’s sword at his throat.

“C’mon,” Virgil said to Roman. Roman looked up and took the hint, hoisting a protesting Snake over his shoulder. They took the two down the stairs, without encountering others to Virgil’s relief.

“Just go,” Virgil told Moustache. He gave him a final shove and Moustache took a few steps back before he was followed by Snake. They trailed off quickly.

Roman and Virgil watched them go.

“So… We let them go just like that?” Roman asked.

Virgil smiled at him. “We follow them. They’re the guys that kidnapped Patton.”

Roman gave him a sceptic look. “Won’t they just come back? They’re obviously after me.”

“Maybe,” Virgil said. “But they’ll return to their base and we follow them. It’s even better if they come back here, because we won’t be here and they’ll be wasting time for nothing.”

Roman stared in the direction Snake and Moustache had gone. “If you say so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote more chapters today!!


	39. Chapter 39

The phone rang. Logan jumped and grabbed it immediately, only sparing a glance at the screen before he picked up and brought the device to his ear. His cousin’s frantic voice instantly followed and Logan desperately tried to keep up with what Remus was saying. It didn’t make much sense. Logan looked at Patton, who was fidgeting with the cards he was holding while he pretended to not listen.

“Remus, slow down. Is Janus with you?”

“Yes, yes, he is. Should I hand him the phone? It’s his, after all.”

“Wh-” Logan closed his eyes for a moment and decided to leave the questions for later. “Please do.” Logan watched Patton squint at the cards on the table before he heard the phone being passed to Janus. He made a mental note to address the squinting later.

“Hello Logan,” Janus said.

“Hello. What is going on?”

Janus was silent for a moment. “Nothing much. We’re just… driving. We-”

“Are you behind the wheel?” Logan interrupted him.

Another silence. “I am. Should I give Remus the phone?”

Logan sighed. “No, it’s fine. What is really going on?”

“As you know,” Janus began, “Me and Remus-”

“Remus and I,” Logan corrected him under his breath. Janus didn’t acknowledge it.

“-went to the villain’s home.” He explained briefly what happened and how they got away. Janus described it as a win that they got away, but Logan thought differently.

“Why are you glad you got away? You were supposed to capture him, didn’t you?”

Janus was silent again and Logan recognised the humming of the car’s engine.

“Well…”


	40. Chapter 40

Virgil paced back and forth while Roman watched him passively. They were back in Roman’s home, because Roman wanted to clean up and finally take the shower he needed. He and Virgil were both quite exhausted from the two fights. Roman suspected Virgil’s anxiety was building up, for good reason. Roman got an idea and jumped up from the couch, which immediately attracted Virgil’s attention. “What are you doing?” Virgil asked, following Roman to the kitchen.

“Wait a sec,” Roman said, grabbing the notepad for grocery lists and a pen which he took with him back to the living room. He tore the grocery list off so that he could start on a blank piece of paper.

_\- patton is being held captive_

_\- we barely escaped the two guys who are undoubtedly patton’s kidnappers_

_\- those guys came back for me_

_\- they are also getting further away every second_

_\- we don’t have a plan to get patton back without getting harmed because we are, after all, the people they came back for_

_\- we don’t know where patton is_

_\- virgil and i_

Roman hesitated and watched Virgil who had continued his pacing. He wanted to write that he and Virgil couldn’t work together, but the two fights proved him wrong. Virgil and him were enemies? That wouldn’t mean anything, that was just stating a fact that was, to be honest, kind of irrelevant to the situation at hand.

_- ~~virgil and i~~_

_\- i don’t want to work together with virgil_

“We need to think of a plan to get Patton back,” Roman said. Virgil stopped his pacing and looked Roman dead in the eye.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?”


	41. Chapter 41

“Touché, but I mean, we need to come up with a plan _together_. You’re thinking about this by yourself, but we need to-”

Virgil interrupted him, “I’m thinking about your role in this plan, don’t worry.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “We need to combine our brain power. Be big brain together!”

Virgil almost laughed at him. “Don’t ever say that again, please.” He sat down in the recliner sideways with his legs swung over the arm rest. “But what did you have in mind?” In all fairness, Virgil didn’t think Roman had a great plan, but he figured the best idea was to hear him out to get him off his back.

“Well, I don’t have a plan either-”

“I never said _I_ don’t have a plan!”

Roman did a vague wave with his hands. “Never mind then. My whole point is that I don’t have a plan because we need to come up with one _together,_ like I _just_ said.”

Virgil sighed. He knew what Roman meant, but he didn’t like it. He also didn’t understand why Roman wanted to work together with him. They had fought together twice today, which wasn’t very disastrous, but Virgil couldn’t forget all the times Roman had actively fought against him. “Can I read that?” he asked, pointing to the notepad he’d seen Roman write on.

Roman looked down at his notepad. “Uh.” He crossed something out and looked back up at Virgil. “Sure.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed, please leave a comment! It helps to keep me motivated to write more! <3  
> (Next chapter coming soon!)


End file.
